WidgetBucks Is Run By Monkeys
So today Problogger had an interview with the CEO of WidgetBucks and it was announced that publishers would no longer be paid for clicks from visitors outside the U.S. or Canada.
Is this the stupidest decision made by an ad network ever?
Why they did it
WidgetBucks claim that the reason for the move is that clicks from outside North America don’t convert into sales and that it is bringing the overall returns to publishers down.
Why they’re monkeys
Just because something isn’t bringing a return that you like doesn’t mean that you should completely get rid of it. If it’s still bringing in money, you just cut the costs to produce it.
Let’s assume that Widget Bucks displays a camera ad and that 1 in 1000 clicks from North American visitors result in a sale (0.1%) while only 1 in 10,000 from outside North America result in a sale (0.01%). Let’s also assume that each camera sale earns WidgetBucks $150 in commissions and/or advertising fees but that they keep $50 for themselves and spread the remaining $100 to their publishers.
If they only consider North American traffic, the equation is:
So WidgetBucks makes $50 and publishers make $0.10 per click.However, if they consider traffic from all countries, they’re getting extra sales (England, Australia and Europe are big online spenders) and it breaks down to:
Under the “North American only” example, WidgetBucks makes $50 and it’s publishers make $100. But if they include sales from every country, WidgetBucks makes $100 and publishers make $200.
You tell me which situation is better for WidgetBucks AND it’s publishers!
How to not be a monkey
To solve the situation, all WidgetBucks needs to do is implement a form of “smartpricing” and geo-targeting like Google does with Adsense and pay (and charge) different rates depending the location of the visitor. Lots of people slam Google for those “one cent clicks” but you’ve got remember that one cent is still a lot better than the nothing that WidgetBucks will be offering.
WidgetBucks has suggested that publishers with lots of traffic from outside North America implement geo-targeting on their ads and serve different ads to those visitors.
WHY CAN’T THEY GEO-TARGET AD PRICING THEMSELVES?
I’m hardly a programmer, but surely it could be solved with a simple:
if click_ip = northamerican
then pay = $0.10
else
pay = $0.01
Four simple lines of code and suddenly WidgetBucks is still getting sales from outside North America and it’s publishers are still getting paid for every click.
Evidence of monkeyism
What WidgetBucks has done is a complete joke and completely sticks a banana up the ass of publishers as visitors from outside North America will still be directed to the site of WidgetBucks creator (mpire.com) and sales will be made but the publisher won’t receive a single cent.
Perhaps more ridiculous is that they’ll also be losing money themselves from global sales.
The chimps are in charge at WidgetBucks.
Rich people subscribe to Cash Quests
this is another funny post. i wonder if any of these companies contact cashQuest and complain about being badmouthed?
by johnCard
Some. But it’s all purely my opinion and I’ll happily publish any response or defense that they wish to make.
by Cash Quests
Well, that’s assuming that they are, in fact, shipping internationally. I have never used WidgetBucks or Mpire so I wouldn’t know, but what I do know is that Amazon does not ship internationally.
The reason Google can pay for international traffic is because they have advertisers buying international traffic. If Mpire can’t make money on international traffic, then there is no reason for them to pay for it.
A better solution would be for WidgetBucks to sell the international traffic to third parties who can capitalize on it.
by DerekBeau
Valid point. However the CEO in the interview mentioned that one of the reasons that international traffic didn’t convert well was due to shipping costs. Hence, I have to assume they ship internationally.
by Cash Quests
Amazon does ship internationally. I order from Amazon a lot and buy from Amazon US, Amazon UK and they ship to me to Hong Kong … True on some products there are some territorial limits but in general they do ship internationally
by F1Wolf
Amazon does indeed ship internationally. I am currently reading no less than two books that proves just that
And regarding the post,
I couldn’t help but laughing, especially when I saw that nice picture!
by Lars-Christian
Thanks for the kind comment
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I guess i got to agree with cashquests that they are indeed monkey and i hate them, anyway i donated to them the money i made over weeks with them, poor ad network structure.
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they should hire you as a programmer. that 4 lines of code is brilliant if widgetbucks use it.
by marhgil
[…] CashQuest writes… WidgetBucks has suggested that publishers with lots of traffic from outside North America implement geo-targeting on their ads and serve different ads to those visitors. WHY CAN’T THEY GEO-TARGET AD PRICING THEMSELVES? […]
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Good argument and very logical. They claim to be established and noted by Forbes (or Times I can’t remember), but this just reeks of poor planning and business sense. Now that you’ve mentioned it - they’re also sticking one up on publishers who direct non-US traffic.
by YC
Your post can’t be further from the truth, WB is indeed run by a bunch of globally-challenged and geographically-myopic chimps!
They must just as well set up some mom and pop stalls in their own backyard.
by betshopboy
What complete monkeys!
@ Kumiko
“(England, Australia and Europe are big online spenders)” - You make it look like Europe is a separate country, England, Australia and the rest of Europe would have been better put. Also, England is only one country part of the United Kingdom, I get sales online from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales so perhaps you should say “UK”
Otherwise thanks for the information!
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i agreed with you kumiko … though i’ve doubt they’re actually errr, monkey physically
… but the way they restrict themselves within the territory says something else about how huge they could grow …
cheers …
by StockTube
When they can’t get profit so they must cut something..
Huhuhu.. That’s always happen on this world…
by shy guy
I never liked this money making program..
by Michael Woo
Once you’ve covered your fixed costs, why would you not be willing to increase your sales and then, just cover your variable (sales and marketing) costs?
Any Accounting 101 student could show them how that works.
by Ron
It’s really an insult to monkeys, comparing the guys at widgetbucks with them. Replace the guys with real monkeys and the company will do better
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they suck. period. they sent me an email last week saying that my account was producing click fraud and that i was suspended. i contacted them immediately and have not had a response yet, that was a week ago. its so convenient that they did this right when my acct reached the threshold to be paid.
by Israel
I tried them out for a while. Glad that I dropped them now, anyway, well before the current silliness.
If you really need mpire (I can’t see why) this is a shame. Otherwise, just go straight to the affiliate programs!
Kenneth
by InvestorBlogger
And we wonder why Google has the online advertising market wrapped up…
by Jason A Clark
Thanks for the info. I just put WidgetBucks on my blog today.. I guess I’ve to remove it again.
by gaman
Indeed I expect that you’ll get mail from the society to protect the reputation of monkeys … how insulting to our furry friends.
Before some rabid gon-toting fellow American comes hunting me down becuase I speak the truth, bear in mind I am an American and I love my country. However, I also am apalled by Widget Bucks, Yahoo Publisher Network and many other US-based companies who still think the world is flat, and the US is at the center of it.
Amazon and many US-based firms _do_ realize this … and the solution for those who do _not_ know how to ship internationally (hint, you can call your local DHL, UPS, FedEx, tec. office and ask for a pickup, the van will drive to you, the driver will pick up the merchandise and it is shipped … really complicated, eh?)
Even US-based publishers can be negatively affected by this ostrich attitude. YPN, for example banned one of my blogs that draws an international audience. Too many out of US views. Hello, I’m supposed to tell people from other countries not to read my blog? As others have mentioned there are a lot of people who spend money aside from US citizens.
I am an American and buy a lot from US sources every year … but I live outside the US .. funny thing is, Google can figure this out … and so can my credit card company, my bank, the merchants who will ship overseas and even the IRS ;-). So why ban my IP because it shows my real world location … not the status of my bank account. To the rest of the (my) US, wake up!
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@ROI Guy, I hear ya! When you become an expat you really notice how small minded so many U.S. businesses (and people for that matter) are. I made the move 6 years ago and am constantly annoyed by this attitude. I so want to see the rise of non-U.S. based networks that exclude U.S. residents and U.S. traffic.
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